How mayor candidates managed campaign funds

Top runners for San Diego mayor made decidedly different choices

State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher spent nearly $218,000 this year on a re-election bid he abandoned to run for mayor. Congressman Bob Filner transferred every cent he could from his federal campaign to his mayoral bid. City Councilman Carl DeMaio poured money into a signature-gathering effort for an anti-pension initiative. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis hasn’t moved any funds.

The four major candidates for San Diego mayor made decidedly different choices with the money left over in campaign accounts established to help them get elected to their current political office. Technically, that money can’t be used to campaign for mayor unless the candidates transfer the money properly to comply with city campaign finance laws.

All four seem to be in compliance with the rules, but Fletcher’s spending for a possible 2012 re-election run for state Assembly caught the attention of one campaign finance expert.

“For Fletcher, the question will be what did he spend the money on and did he comply with all the rules and regulations?” said Robert Stern, with the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies. “My assumption is he did, but it sounds like an awful lot of money being spent a year before he announces for office.”

There’s no indication that Fletcher spent any of his Assembly campaign funds on activities related to the mayor’s race — a move that would be illegal.

Fletcher said he hadn’t yet decided whether to run for mayor and so he kept his Assembly campaign running on schedule. The campaign raised $175,000 and spent about $218,000 in the first half of the year, printing re-election endorsement cards for supporters, revamping his official website and collecting voter-registration data.

“All of our expenses were consistent with a possible run for re-election and then once a final decision was made to run for mayor then that account was wound down,” Fletcher said.

DeMaio opted to help his mayoral campaign in a roundabout way. He took $15,000 from a committee he created years ago to advance city issues and put it toward the signature-gathering effort for a proposed ballot initiative. The measure, which DeMaio helped craft, would replace guaranteed pensions with a 401(k)-style plan for most new city hires. DeMaio calls it the centerpiece of his mayoral campaign.

Filner took the more traditional route by transferring $36,000 from his congressional campaign to his mayoral fund. He said he moved all the money he could and won’t tap that source again.

Dumanis is the only candidate who hasn’t moved at least some money around despite having nearly $38,000 available in her district attorney campaign. She said she has no intention of transferring any money.

“The D.A.’s race and the money that was contributed was for that purpose,” Dumanis said. “It is for officeholder-type expenses but not for campaigning for another office.”

Stern said politics are always at play, even in campaign finance choices.

“The real question is why isn’t Dumanis doing it?” he said. “Maybe she’s not doing it so she can make an issue of everybody else doing it.”